Who is Eva Kaili, the MEP at the centre of the corruption scandal shaking up Brussels?
Eva Kaili is the name on everyone's lips in Brussels.
The Greek Member of the European Parliament was arrested on Friday by Belgian police as part of a "major investigation" and has been charged with "participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption."
Kaili is suspected of illicit lobbying in favour of a Persian Gulf state, which Belgian media has identified as Qatar, the controversial host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The legislator was reportedly "caught in the act," the only circumstance that triggers an immediate revocation of parliamentary immunity. Her father, Alexandros, and her husband, Francesco Giorgi, were taken for questioning too for their alleged role in the scheme.
The scandal has unleashed a storm in Brussels, with new twists and turns emerging almost by the hour.
But who exactly is Eva Kaili?
A graduate of architecture, civil engineering and European affairs, Kaili started off her career as a journalist for MEGA Channel in her native Greece.
By 2007, she was already a national lawmaker in the Hellenic Parliament, as a member of PASOK, the social-democrat party that was then one of the leading political forces in the Mediterranean country.
Two years later, PASOK entered government under the leadership of Prime Minister George Papandreou, who faced enormous criticism over his management of the devastating sovereign debt crisis.
When Papandreou faced a vote of confidence in 2011, Kaili initially refused to support him, but she later changed her mind and all PASOK lawmakers backed their PM.
As the Greek crisis worsened, Kaili ran for the European Parliament and was elected in 2014. She joined the powerful Socialist & Democrats (S&D) group, the second largest formation in the hemicycle, and
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